Florida Marlins planning to host 2015 All Star Game

Nothing is official and there have been no concrete talks with Major League Baseball, but Marlins president David Samson told a FanFest crowd today that the team is planning to host the 2015 All Star Game.

“It has not been confirmed yet, but if you thought to yourself, ‘We will host the all star game in 2015,’ you would probably not be misleading yourself,” he said to a loud ovation at Sun Life Stadium.
In August, Samson told me essentially the same thing but added at the time that he’d had preliminary talks with MLB.

This afternoon, Samson said he hadn’t had any new talks with the league, but I thought it was telling that he felt comfortable enough with the Marlins chances for 2015 that he told a few hundred people at FanFest.

“We’re confident that that will be the year,” he said. “This area deserves it. … We know that this is a great area they way we hosted the Super Bowl. So when Al Star weekend is here, hold onto your hats because it’s going to be something else. We look forward to that once we get into the new ballpark.”
The All-Star Game will be in Anaheim, Calif., in July and in Phoenix in 2011.

An American League city will get the games in 2012 and 2014, with the New York Mets’ Citi Field reportedly set for 2013.

In 1995, the Marlins were awarded the 2000 game. But after the 1998 season, when Wayne Huizenga was trying to sell the Marlins, the game was moved to Atlanta’s Turner Field.

All Stop Hanley Ramirez said he hasn’t been to the new stadium construction site since the team held a ceremony there in May 2008 to mark his six-year, $70 million contract extension. “I think it’s going to be beautiful,” Ramirez said. “I want to see the All Star Game here in my town.” …
Left-fielder Chris Coghlan was showing off to FanFest attendees something he brought back from Iraq — a new buzz cut courtesy of the U.S. Military.

The new hairdo cost Coghlan $4.50.

“Some of the (soldiers) were getting on me because of my shaggy hair,” he said. “I said, ‘I’ll show my support. I’ll let you shave my head.’ I guess you get to see a little bit better version but they gave me a mohawk. It was pretty bad. I sported it out there for three days before I cleaned it up a little bit. That’ why I had my head shaved, for the troops.” …

Manager Fredi Gonzalez told attendees he was considering Cameron Maybin to bat second in his batting order. That would mean, a lineup of Coghan, Maybin Ramirez, Jorge Cantu, Dan Uggla, Cody Ross, John Baker and either Logan Morrison or Gaby Sanchez…

The Marlins said they sold more than 40,000 individual-game tickets today, a total that marks the team’s highest single-season tally for one day. Sounds a bit high to me, especially considering that I counted no more than 10 people in line at 11:30 a.m. — a half hour before tickets went on sale.

Last year at FanFest, there was a long line that formed mainly because of three Yankees games. This year, the Marlins host the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays for interleague play…